Charles p



(No Model.)

C. F. GEIGER.

GUITAR. No. 454,905. Paterlted June 30,1891.

UNITED STATES CHARLES F. GEIGER, OF

PATENT OFFICE.

CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE JOHN CHURCH COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

GUITAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 454,905, dated June 30, 1891. Application filed February 9, 1891. Serial No. 380,831. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t 77mg/ concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. GEIGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Guitars, of which the following is a specification.

Vhen the strings of a guitar are attached directly to the bridge-piece on the soundingboard, there is a tendency to lift the piece from its seat or to warp the sounding-board when the strings are made taut. This is especially true when steel strings are used, as the strain of metal strings is much greater than that of gut strings. It is therefore desirable to have the strain of taut strings on some other part of the instrument than the middle of the sounding-board, and a better tone is produced when the strings are attached to the bridge-piece near the bridge.

By employing my invention all of the advant-ages derived from attaching the strings near the bridge and relieving the bridge-piece from the strain of taut strings by removing it to the sides of the guitar are obtained.

My invention consistsin a combined bridge and tail-piece for guitars and other instru-v ments, lhereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a top View of a portion of a guitar provided with my improved bridge and tail-piece. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the bridge and lailpiece.

A is a sounding-board of a guitar; B B, the strings; C,a bridge, preferably 0f metal, having a lip D, provided with eyelets d d, in which one end of the strings is fastened by knots or otherwise. The lip is curved over to conceal the knots from View, as shown in Fig. 2. I prefer to make this lip and bridge in one solid piece.

E is a tail-piece of any desired pattern rigidly secured to thev bridge and extending in the opposite direction from the strings and taking over the end of the soundingboard. The strain of the strings, although attached immediately behind the bridge, is from the end of the guitar,and therefore does not tend to lift the bridge from its seat or warp the soundingboard.

Fis a metal plate rigidly secured to the bridge, and by means of which the bridge is attached to the sounding-board by screws e e taking through it into the sounding-board. A block or stay may be placed under the sounding-board to receive these screws when a very thin board is used. This plate, being underneath one end of the tail-piece, raises the tailpiece out of contact with the sounding-board and permits a full, clear, and pure tone of the instrument without rattling. I prefer to make the bridge, tail-piece, and plate in separate pieces and rigidly secure them togetherby soldering or riveting afterward, and any two or all of them may be made in one piece, ifdesired. In attaching the tail-piece and bridge to a guitar the bridge is placed in its proper position on the sounding-board and the tail-piece then bent over the end of the sounding-board. Thus it is evident that any tail-piece may be readily adjusted to any guitar.

I claiml. .The combination, in a guitar, of a sounding-board, strings, a lip for fastening one end of the strings, a bridge, and a tail-piece rigidly secured thereto and taking over the end of the sounding-board, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination,in a guitar, of asounding-board, strings, a bridge provided with a lip adapted to secure one end of the strings, a bridge, a tail-piece secured thereto and taking' over the end of the sounding-board, and a plate, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, in a guitar, of a sounding-board A, strings B, a bridge C, having a curved lip D, provided with eyelets d (Z, a tail-piece E, rigidly attached to said bridge and taking over the end of the soundingboard, and a plate F between said tail-piece and the sounding-board, substantially as and for the purpose described.

cnAs. E. GEIGEE.

Vitn esses:

LoUIs Coon, GEO. B. JENNINGs. 

